Vehicle Liquid Fire Suppression for Flame Control and Surface Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fire suppression systems for large mobile equipment require dual-agent systems due to the belief that both dry and wet agents are necessary to safely suppress fires and cool superheated surfaces, but these systems face issues with dry agent contamination and increased costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
A single liquid fire suppression system that uses a wet chemical agent to both knock down flames and cool superheated surfaces, eliminating the need for a separate dry agent system, thereby reducing material costs and potential contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a dual-agent fire suppression system is used, then fire suppression effectiveness is improved, but system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functions of dry agent and wet agent systems into a single liquid fire suppression system. The liquid agent performs both fire suppression and cooling of superheated surfaces, eliminating the need for separate dry and wet agent systems and their associated storage tanks, nozzles, and control mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The liquid fire suppressant performs multiple functions simultaneously: it suppresses flames and cools superheated surfaces. This multi-functionality replaces the need for separate dry agent (for flame suppression) and wet agent (for cooling) systems, simplifying the overall system architecture.
2Reliability
If a dual-agent fire suppression system is used, then fire suppression effectiveness is improved, but material costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the fire suppression and cooling functions into a single liquid agent system, eliminating the need to purchase and maintain separate dry agent and wet agent inventories, thereby reducing material costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The system eliminates the need for dry agent materials entirely, discarding the harmful dry chemical substance and recovering only the beneficial liquid suppressant that performs both suppression and cooling functions.
3Reliability
If a dual-agent fire suppression system is used, then fire suppression effectiveness is improved, but dry agent contamination occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the harmful dry agent component from the fire suppression system, retaining only the liquid agent that provides both fire suppression and cooling without causing contamination issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the system from using harmful dry chemicals to using beneficial liquid suppressants that naturally cool surfaces and suppress flames without creating contamination problems, turning a harmful approach into a beneficial one.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The single-agent system effectively suppresses fires and cools superheated surfaces, obviating the need for a dry agent, and is more environmentally friendly, with superior cooling capabilities compared to conventional twin-agent systems.
Implementation Method 1
cooling superheated surfaces in protected hazard area
Implementation Method 2
suppress a fire in protected hazard area
Data Source
AI summary
A fire suppression system for a vehicle includes a fire detection device, a tank, a nozzle, and an activator. The fire detection device is configured to detect a fire in a hazard area. The activator is configured to selectively release during a single-agent phase the liquid fire suppressant contained in the tank such that at least a portion of the liquid fire suppressant passes through the outlet of the nozzle in response to the fire detection device detecting the fire.